Page 114 of Vow

“Does it matter if he’s right, brother?” Gio asked back.

Lucian chuckled from his seat on the couch. “That’s a good point.”

Dante glanced at Andino again. “Where is the Calabrese woman?”

“Why?”

“Curious. I don’t plan to retrieve and return her. Why would I? She deserves better.”

“Canada,” Andino answered. “She is in Canada with a Guzzi who agreed to look after her for the time being, and once it was safe, return her. I called in a favor.”

Dante stiffened, and his gaze cut to Lucian. “Corrado Guzzi? Because I know Andino is not the one who is owed a favor by that young man.”

Lucian shifted uncomfortably. “What do you want me to say?”

“You helped him? You knew what he was up to?”

“Gio isn’t the only one in this family who wants to give his son the thing he wants the very most, Dante.”

The three brothers took a moment to consider each other silently before Dante’s attention came back to Andino once more.

“Do you know what this means, though?” his uncle asked.

“Be specific.”

“Our family—the line will end with your boys. The Marcello name, Andino. Our legacy will end with your boys, if you even have any. Half Italian from the father’s side. Any boys you have—only one can be the boss, and he will be the last Marcello boss.”

The heavy silence that covered the room almost felt suffocating. Andino didn’t have to wonder why, either. He already knew. The idea that their name would end in this criminal world that they had controlled for so long simply because he fell in love and chose a woman that couldn’t continue on the line was a lot to absorb.

“There’s still John,” Andino said, shrugging. Because really, that still did not matter to him. Haven mattered. And their legacy was always something he was willing to sacrifice for her. He would give up anything for her. “And any sons he might have.”

“John shouldn’t even be a made man if you look into his bloodlines deep enough,” Dante grumbled. “His biological grandmother was only half Italian. His mother has less than a fraction of Italian bloodline in her family lineage. And you think his sons could pass the fucking test? Foolish.”

Lucian cleared his throat, but otherwise, kept quiet.

Andino laughed. “Who is going to be that disrespectful, Dante? Who would be willing to dig into the history of a murdered man and woman just to trace their bloodlines? They killed Lucian and John’s bloodline—any man and woman that came from their family are all gone. Who is willing to disrespect the dead to challenge a bloodline? No one, that’s who.”

Dante glanced up. “You think you have this all figured out, don’t you?”

“If we don’t evolve, then we fail.”

Another sigh echoed.

Finally, Dante asked, “Well, what the fuck do we do now?”

Andino thought the answer to that question was quite simple. “I would like to take Haven downstairs—apparently, she came here with Ma after the church—and introduce her to my family. I would like to see her welcomed, and embraced. Treated with respect for no other reason than I love her, and it is what she deserves. That is what I need to happen now.”

Dante shook his head. “What did you do, Andino?”

Wasn’t it obvious?

“What I needed to.”

EIGHTEEN

“Haven,” her father said. “Did the flight get delayed?”

Haven cringed because not exactly. “As far as I know, no, it wasn’t delayed. I just won’t be able to make it in time. Not today, anyway.”